The Hurricane, and the Gathering Storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odWoRXIkmKM

With the Atlantic spilling over its shores, and the lights out in lower Manhattan, most of us are undoubtedly transfixed this evening by news of Hurricane Sandy. Our thoughts are with the folks caught in the storm,  including friends in places from the inlets of the Chesapeake to the row houses and high-rise canyons of New York.

But if you tune in to only one other story tonight, the one to watch is Sean Hannity’s latest interview with Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods, one of the two former Navy SEALs murdered in the Sept. 11 terrorist assault on U.S. diplomatic compounds in Benghazi, Libya. Charles Woods appeared on air, with three of his children, to ask, once again, that the Obama administration provide a full accounting of who made the decision to deny the help reportedly requested by the embattled Americans. That is a big and important question, and one to which all Americans deserve an answer before they go to the polls next week.  You can watch the interview here, and in the video embedded above.

Right now, the lights are out in lower Manhattan due to a massive act of nature. That’s beyond the power of any administration to prevent — even the administration of a president who believed that his own advent could slow the rise of the oceans. Presumably the authorities will deal swiftly with the damage of the storm, and get the lights switched back on. But if we want to ensure that the lights of New York do not go out again due to an act of terrorism, it is vital that America’s leaders acknowledge the real threats to this country, stand by those who put their lives on the line to defend it, and deal honestly with the American public about what transpires in the process. If you missed the earlier interview on Hannity with Charles Woods, making the same plea, still unanswered — this one phoned in a few days ago — you can listen here.